Raising Canadian Children Above Poverty Line Possible

Prince George, B.C.- With the recent report saying 1 in 5 children in B.C. live in poverty, ( see previous story) Skeena- Bulkley MP Nathan Cullen says more needs to be done from the federal level.

Saying it is “disgraceful” that a Province like BC , which has the leading economy in the country, has so many children living in poverty ( more than 163 thousand) Cullen says while much should be done at the Provincial level, there are things that should be done federally to help all of Canada’s children who live in poverty.

“Mr. Trudeau brought in a small tax measure that was meant to help out families, but we also know that a broader deeper affordable housing strategy coupled with affordable child care to help, specifically single parents to get out in the work force and earn money would help alleviate poverty that way” says Cullen. ” We know these are the two single greatest things and they have been given the least amount of attention.”

The report indicated that among B.C. children who live in poverty, 50% are being raised in a single parent family.

The report released last week made 20 recommendations, many directed to the Province of B.C., but there were also calls for action from the Federal Government, including extending the period for Employment insurance and increasing the dollars paid out by EI. Those are measures Cullen says would be helpful “We sometimes make those changes in an economic crisis that goes on for a few months. The Alberta wildfires, you’ll see the Government respond and modify EI. What we know from the statistics is , particularly women, only about a third of women who pay into EI actually qualify for it and that’s a broken system. If you want to do something about child poverty, helping women when they lose their jobs would be a natural place to start. It’s insurance, it’s not the Government’s money, it belongs to the workers and employers that pay into it, and it should act like insurance when something goes wrong and you lose your job for whatever reason you’ve got some insurance helping you out.” But Cullen says over the years, governments have been “twerking the rules to limit who can actually gain, but they never change the rules as to who contributes, it’s always everybody contributing, but it’s fewer and fewer Canadians who can actually ever access it.”.

Cullen says the tax plan announced by the Federal Government did little to help those who need it the most “It gave the greatest benefit to those earning more than $190 thousand dollars a year. If the Liberals think that’s how you tackle child poverty, I don’t know what planet they’re living on.”

The report also called for the Federal Government to introduce universal prescription, dental and eye care.

Comments

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 7:52 AM by BeingHuman with a score of 0

“1 in 5 children living in BC live in poverty”; “50 percent of children living in poverty in BC are from one parent homes.”

Since we know, in instances of divorce and separation, the majority of child custody cases are with the mother, we can say the majority of those children living in poverty are with single mothers.

Nice system we have going here, where the majority of people living in poverty in our province are women and children… there doesn’t seem to be much honour in that, but then again what does our provincial government know about honour?

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 9:07 AM by gopg2015 with a score of 0

Far too simplistic a view. Do some work and do some thinking about the situation. Read my comment below.

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 9:06 AM by gopg2015 with a score of 0

I lived with an income below the poverty level while going to university, as many university students probably do and have done.

The problem is really not so much that the income is below a poverty line, but that many people do not have the capacity to learn how to live smart with less money than those who have a capacity to earn more money than some others do.

This measure, whether it is for BC or other provinces in Canada, is far too simplistic.

One needs to dig down into that statistic to gather information about the quality of life and help those who cannot manage with the income they receive.

Actually, when one starts to do that for ALL lower income families, one may get a few surprises such as learning that some earning above the poverty level are actually worse off than some living below the poverty level.

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 12:56 PM by socredible with a score of 0

One person’s “quality of life” desires, and often even what they view as necessities, are often going to be far different from another’s. Why, instead of reducing everyone down to some common denominator, do we not instead look at whether the poverty we have in this country is ‘physical’, as it is in many Third World countries, or simply ‘financial’? There is no evidence of which I’m aware that indicates this country could not give ALL its citizens a far higher standard of living than those even in the upper echelons of earned incomes currently enjoy. There are very few ‘physical’ impediments, if any, to our being able to do this. We do not live in a land of ‘scarcity’. Indeed, our problem, if you want to call it that, is that we live in a land of ‘glut’. If we didn’t keep our existing capacity to produce throttled back we’d be buried under goods of every imaginable description ~ more than we could ever consume, or would ever even want to consume. Our poverty is a poverty in the midst of plenty. It exists mainly because the ‘figures’ ~ all those numbers with the ‘$’ signs in front of them, do NOT do as they’re supposedly supposed to be able to do. ACCURATELY “REFLECT” physical reality. If you want to eliminate poverty, change what its main CAUSE is. A flawed financial system that misrepresents wealth as waste.

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 9:53 AM by BeingHuman with a score of 0

Qh, oh… someone else, like sparrow in the $6.7 million in affordable housing for Quesnel story, is calling me out for my posts being nothing more than conjecture and political bias. Since this story is partially about affordable housing, I did some statistical digging and came up with this.

Hey Christy Clark Liberals, the number of homeless in Terrace, BC just increased by 30% from 64, two years ago, to over 101 this year according to a recent homeless count… what are the numbers in Quesnel that would “justify” a $6.7 million dollar investment in affordable housing there?

ht tp://www.terracestandard.com/news/376862821.html

Also the average price of a house in Quesnel has been dropping over the last three (3) years compared to average price increases in Terrace, Kitimat, and Prince Rupert.

So… with all the above stated “evidence” why are the Christy Clark Liberals dropping nearly $7 million dollars in affordable housing in Quesnel, rather than Terrace, which by the way is in an NDP riding? Not that politics matter… and Liberal MLA; Coralee Oakes needs to be re-elected in the Quesnel riding, right?

Scroll to the bottom in the following link to see the average house prices and number of units sold per year, for the Quesnel and Terrace locations.

ht tp://www.cftktv.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=2198164

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 10:49 AM by sparrow with a score of 0

October 24,2012
TERRACE – Seniors in Terrace are celebrating increased access to affordable housing at Market Estates, a new development providing 24 units of seniors housing, funded by the governments of Canada and British Columbia along with community partners.

Through an amendment to the Canada-British Columbia Affordable Housing Agreement, the federal and provincial governments contributed a combined total of nearly $3.7 million for the construction of Market Estates.

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March 11th, 2013
TERRACE – Affordable housing in Terrace is being preserved with the B.C. government’s purchase of an 11-unit apartment complex for low-income individuals in the community.

The government of B.C. provided $950,000 for the purchase and renovations of Mountain View Apartments at 4501 Greig Ave., which is managed and operated by Ksan House Society.

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From the Terrace Standard

Terrace, B.C. posted Nov 22, 2016 at 11:00 AM

The Ksan House Society is closer to having its 45 unit affordable housing project on the southside become a reality with the provincial government announcement of financing for several affordable housing projects today, Nov. 22.

Money will come from the Investment in Housing Initiative for the 45 unit project on Haugland Ave. for low income individuals, families and people with disabilities.

As of November 22, 2016, a total of 53 projects (2,404 units) have been approved, representing a $437 million investment into affordable rental units for low to moderate income renters, including seniors, youth, students, adults with developmental disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and women and children.
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I’m sure I could find many more examples but have more important things to do.

As I posted in response to doneright:
“Ya think maybe,just maybe,that is a normal program to help those less fortunate that has gone on year over year regardless of election timing?”…….seems like the housing initiatives the government has undertaken in Terrace and other parts of the province prove that this is the case. So yes conjecture and political bias….in spades!

What no defence of Jenny “air miles” Kwan and her actions in regards to the Portland Hotel Society

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2016 @ 12:45 PM by Hart Guy with a score of 0

Sparrow, NICE post!

Come on Peeps er BeingHuman, almost 2 hours have gone by with no response from you yet!